FIL Ltd Sells 350,138 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

FIL Ltd lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 24.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,066,462 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 350,138 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned approximately 0.17% of Accenture worth $375,171,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $1.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $283.54. 5,017,701 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,006,013. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $336.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $352.00.

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Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total value of $340,645.67. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,484 shares in the company, valued at $1,943,913.48. This represents a 14.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total transaction of $885,136.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,866 shares in the company, valued at $10,232,419.68. The trade was a 7.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $378.23.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.